Business & Market Intelligence

$2.9 trillion U.S. Budget Proposed for Next Year

President
Bush sent his proposed $2.9 trillion budget, for the 2008 fiscal year that
begins on Oct. 1, to Capitol Hill today. For the 2008 fiscal year, the
deficit is seen at $239 billion, about $5 billion less than that projected
for the current fiscal year. The total spend for the current year is seen
at roughly $2.78 trillion.

January Marks 10th Straight Month Of 100 Or More U.S. CEO Exits

Heavy turnover among chief executive officers continued in the new year, as 114 CEO changes were
announced in January, the 10th consecutive month that over 100 CEO
departures were recorded, according to the monthly CEO Turnover Report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

IPTV Likely to Generate Significant Revenue within First 3 Years of Service: Accenture Survey

Nearly
60% of communications industry executives from 46 countries believe that
Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) can generate significant revenue
within the first three years of service, according to findings of a
survey by Accenture (ACN) and the
Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

China to Become No.1 Exporter Worldwide in 2008, Surpassing Germany and US

China
is set to over take U.S. as the No.2 exporter worldwide this year and with
an estimated $1.4 trillion dollars in exports in 2008, China will surpass
Germany in 2008 to become the No.1 exporter in the world, according to
Germany's federal foreign trade body BFAI.

Over 84 million American Mobile Subscribers Can be Reached by Mobile Marketing

With
an estimated 207 million mobile phone subscribers in the U.S., text message continues to be the most widely used mobile application and
is potentially the most powerful tool in mobile marketing. Mark Beccue
sizes up the market for mobile marketing in terms of the actual number of
consumers you can reach with various mobile data applications.

Global
sales of semiconductors increased 8.9% to reach a record $247.7 billion in
2006, from the $227.5 billion reported in 2005, according
to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). Worldwide sales rose 9%
year-over-year $21.7 billion in December.